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Muhammad Sahid Saleh is pictured his large honey shop in Erbil's downtown market. GLOBE PHOTO/Qassim Khidhir

The abundance of natural flowers in the region makes Kurdistan honey a consumer favorite.

The main challenges the Iraqi Kurdistan Region beekeepers face are sandstorms and the Turkish and Iranian artillery bombardments on Kurdistan Region border.

In an interview with The Kurdish Globe, head of Kurdistan Region Beekeepers Network Arif Abdullah Sherwani said there are 16, 000 beekeepers in Kurdistan. Sherwani, an active beekeeper, said last year Kurdistan produced 625 tons of honey.

"Having honeybees is like having a company; it is a very good job," said Sherwani. He has 1,700 honeycombs, and last year he produced 17.5 tons of honey. According to him, only 8 percent of Kurdistan people eat honey; most of Kurdistan Region's honey goes to Syria, United Arab Emirates, and other parts of Iraq.

"We really do not understand why people in Kurdistan don't eat honey, but it has become kind of a habit; they are not very friendly to honey."

Even though many people in Kurdistan do not eat honey, the number of beekeepers is increasing remarkably because business is very profitable, Sherwani noted. He pointed out that the main challenges the beekeepers face are Iranian and Turkish bombardment on the border areas and sandstorms.

The border mountain areas are the beekeepers' last destiny to feed their bees with fresh flowers, but Iranian and Turkish bombardments create panic among beekeepers and many are afraid to go to the border areas, he said. And the recent sandstorms that blanketed Iraq have caused great damage to the flowers. Moreover, he added that the beekeepers in Kurdistan don't have a lot of experience on how to care for the bees.

The Kurdistan Beekeepers Network, with the help of America, is continually opening courses for beekeepers to increase their skills and capacity. They open training courses for those (men and women) who want to become beekeepers.

"To become a beekeeper in the beginning, for two years, it is difficult and you will not earn a lot of money; but after that the job will become very easy and profitable," said Sherwani.
This year, for the first time, Iraqi Kurdistan participated in International APImondia, which was held in France. Kurdish beekeepers received a medal in APImondia for their good-quality honey and also become permanent members of APImondia.

Special smell and taste

ApImondia, or International Federation of Beekeepers' Association, promotes scientific, ecological, social, and economic apicultural development in all countries and the cooperation of beekeepers` associations, scientific bodies, and of individuals involved in apiculture worldwide.

Muhammad Sahid Saleh, who has a big honey store in Erbil's downtown market, said he carries honey from Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and Kurdistan, but the Kurdistan honey is the most expensive and people's favorite because of its special smell and taste.

Saleh said most of his customers are Iraqi Arabs from the middle and south of Iraq. He pointed out that in his store he has two kinds of honey the original and the fake. The original honey was made from bees that only eat flowers; the fake honey was made from bees that only eat sugar.

The price of fake honey in his store is 6000 dinars (US$5), and the price of the original honey is 25, 000 dinars (US$20). According to Saleh, the honey produced in Kurdistan is original honey.

"Kurdistan is rich with natural flowers; we don't have a lab to test the honey, but I know most of the beekeepers in Kurdistan and I visit them in the mountains ever year. I trust them and I know they have original honey."

Behind Saleh's desk, there is a small library containing a number of books all of them about bees and honey and the health benefits of honey.

"I like to read things about bees and honey; also, I always search the Internet for information about bees and honey."

Currently, there is no factory in Kurdistan to put the honey into cans or test the quality. But America, on its own budget, is building a factory in Shaqlawa town in Erbil province to can the honey and test it. Kurdistan Regional Government will equip the factory, which should be complete by the end of this year.